Welcome back to our series on art history. In this article
we’ll move forward from Mesopotamia to ancient Egypt where we’ll get into
hieroglyphics, paintings, sculpture, and more!

The ancient Egyptians focused a
lot of their artwork on figurative works, religion, rituals, and communication
through hieroglyphics. We’ll run through an overview of 3,000 years from 3000
BCE (after the end of the Neolithic era in the region) to 30 BCE before the
Romans invaded and took over (think Cleopatra and Caesar. Let’s dive into
history!

Early Dynastic Period, 3000–2686 BCE

Also known as the “Archaic” period, this time follows the
Neolithic era and unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. It’s at this time that
Egypt comes to be ruled by a god-like king, which is something we started to
see near the end of our article on Mesopotamia. With civilization comes a
ruling body, and with our species, we tend to really get into all-powerful
ruling entities.

Sun-dried bricks, which were common to Mesopotamia, and
architecture that included decorative elements (arches and recessed walls as
well as decorations themselves) carried over into Egypt. With a more
established ruling class came more involved funeral rituals. Ancient Egyptians
are renowned for their elaborate funeral practices for rulers and the like.

This is where things like the Step pyramid, which is a
structure that uses a series of flat platforms, and the mastaba, an ancient
Egyptian tomb, began to be used more often for Egypt’s elite class. When we
think of ancient Egyptian tombs, we are talking about the richest of their
society creating elaborate structures and art pieces to honor the dead (or send
them off into the afterlife). An interesting note to be made is that a lot of the
artwork uncovered as a part of these elaborate tombs throughout history wasn’t
really meant to be seen or used by the living.

The first king of Egypt is identified either as Menes or
Narmer. Currently it’s believed they are the same person, so more often than
not you’ll find people refer to the first pharaoh as Narmer.

Narmer is shown in
the Narmer Palette wearing the crowns of both Upper and Lower Egypt as a sign of
having unified the two. At least, that’s the thinking behind the interpretation
of it. It’s possible the palette is also purely symbolic. Regardless, the
palette is one of the earliest examples of hieroglyphic inscriptions, dating to
around 3100 BCE or so, and includes some classic art styles seen throughout
ancient Egyptian art.

Old Kingdom, 2686–2181 BCE

The Old Kingdom era starts around the Third Dynasty of
Egypt. This coincides with Djoser, who ruled for a couple decades somewhere around 2691–2625 BCE (other sources say 2686–2613). Djoser ordered
the construction of a Step pyramid at Saqqara called the Pyramid of Djoser. It’s
throughout the Old Kingdom era that Egypt’s first pyramids were created.

It’s also during the reign of Djoser that we get his vizier,
Imhotep, who you might recognize in name as the wacky, power-hungry necromancer
of the Mummy movie series. In reality, Imhotep was an architect, engineer,
and physician. He designed the Pyramid of Djoser, and it’s possible he was
responsible for the first known use of stone columns within ancient Egypt.
Later he was revered as a poet and philosopher thanks to the divine status he
received after death (around 2,000 years after his death).

Another quite notable pyramid constructed during the Old
Kingdom era is the Great Pyramid at Giza. It’s thought to have been
commissioned by Khufu during the Fourth Dynasty. The oldest and largest of the
three pyramids at Giza, it’s considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the
Ancient World.

Likely constructed over the span of a decade (or more), the
pyramid consists of limestone, granite, and mortar. Limestone was used for the
casing. Casing stones are slanted, flat-topped stones that create the face of
the pyramid. In order to cut stone like limestone and graphite, Egyptians
hammered wood wedges into the stone, soaked the wedges with water, and as the
wedges expanded from the water they cracked the rock, allowing pieces to be cut
or broken away.

Stones traveled to the construction site on boats via the Nile
River where they were then built into the pyramid that still stands today. As
for how exactly the pyramid was built, there are so many theories including
slave labor, skilled workers, blocked being rolled or dragged, and more.

Other artistic contributions of the Old Kingdom to Egypt
include the first life-size statues created in wood, copper, and stone as well
as portraits of individuals, which we see quite often in subsequent centuries.
Structures and objects were decorated with relief carvings that depicted
landscapes, plants, animals, and more.

Artworks were centered around the
afterlife, though I always wonder how much is missing since a great deal of
them come from ancient tombs. All in all, the Old Kingdom comprises four dynasties through 500 years or so.

Middle Kingdom, 2000–1700 BCE

Next, we jump ahead to the Middle Kingdom. This era brought
us the block statue, which was a memorial sculpture depicting a figure squatting or
seated with their arms resting on their knees. Often the figure wears a cloak, rendering their body into a block-like shape. There are two types of statues in this genre: with a cloak that covers the feet and with the feet and legs
exposed.

Nobles were also rendered into busts and other statues.
This, unlike a lot of artwork before it, included depictions of women in a
context that has nothing to do with being a fertility statue or a goddess.

Interestingly, these statues were able to show beauty standards, makeup, and
hair styles of the time period within the carving itself.

New Kingdom, 1550–1069 BCE

The New Kingdom era begins around the time Ahmose I reunited
Egypt around the 17th Dynasty. Since we’re focused on art in this
article rather than all of Egypt’s history, it suffices to say that this kicked
off Egypt’s third great cultural era.

This era is notable for being a time in which royals were
quite extravagant. Luckily for the world of art, when the rich are being fancy, fantastic artwork tends to be created. What better way to show wealth or honor
the living and the dead than with paintings, sculptures, and more?

A relief of a royal couple in the Amarna-period style. Image by Andreas Praefcke.

The Amarna period in the late Eighteenth Dynasty saw a
change in the overall art style. Figures were more androgynous and expressive
than before. Fingers and toes were long and slender, faces were
elongated, and stomachs, thighs, and chests were shown to be fatter than
before. Previously figures would be shown to have two right feet or two left
feet, while in the Amarna style they had each a right and left foot.

Around 1200 BCE, Ramses and those who followed focused on
large works including relief pieces where designs were cut into stone rather
than the background being cut away. Since these pieces were big, they’re not as
highly detailed as the smaller works that preceded them.

Throughout the New Kingdom period, the dead were buried with
the Book of the Dead. A collection of texts consisting of spells intended to
assist a person’s journey into the afterlife were written and painted onto
papyrus and buried with them in their coffin. This tradition carried on through
this era into the next.

People who commissioned these texts for themselves or
for loved ones were rich, since papyrus was expensive, and creating such a
“book” could garner a scribe half a year’s wages. Interestingly, pre-made
collections could be purchased, allowing buyers to have the dead person’s name
placed within the text upon purchase. The Papyrus of Ani is an example of one
such “book”.

Late Period (664–332 BCE) and Beyond

Sometime after the New Kingdom comes the Late Period. The
scale of artwork diminished compared to the eras that came before. Bronze
figures became more common during this time and carried into the Ptolemaic period that followed. Animals, especially figures like Bastet and Apis, were rendered in bronze during the Late Period.

Gayer-Anderson Cat, believed to be a representation of Bastet. Image by Einsamer Schütze.

Following the Late Period, Egypt was taken over by the
Persians, Greeks, and Romans (in that order). Alexander the Great conquered the
Persians to bring about the Ptolemaic Kingdom (332–30 BCE), and later Octavius
defeated Marc Antony, got rid of Cleopatra, and annexed Egypt in the name of
the Roman Empire (30 BCE to 4th Century CE).

Our next two articles
will cover ancient Greece and Rome respectively, so understanding those
cultural and artistic influences on the region is best saved until later.

Painting Styles

After running through an overview of the timeline, I wanted
to take some time out to chat about the paintings found throughout ancient
Egypt. Often when I think of art from these eras, it’s paintings or painted media
(relief, sculpture, etc.) that come to mind.

Surfaces that were painted were likely prepared with layers
of whitewash and/or gesso, a primer-like paint. It’s suggested that minerals
were used with an unknown binder (possibly egg tempera). It’s said that Egyptians
were strict about painting. They used six colors: red, yellow, green, blue, white,
and black. A small paint box found in the tomb of Tutankhamen contained these
six colors.

From 4000 BCE onward, color washes were used within painting.
The first uses of blue pigment were found to date back to 3000 BCE. Later they used
vegetable dyes in addition to mineral pigments, and were the first in known
history to create “lake pigments”. A lake pigment is a pigment that’s been
rendered insoluble by mixing it with tannin, metallic salt, or some other
compound. This sort of pigment was used for thousands of years following this
period, allowing for a wider range of pigments to be created.

Aside from their contributions to pigments and paints
themselves, the Egyptians had a classic style used for thousands of years
(until the Amarna period) that consisted of figures shown with heads in
profile, bodies facing forward, and feet in profile (often shown as two left
feet or two right feet).

Furthermore, unless
children or gods were being illustrated in these paintings, all human figures
were shown in the same proportions (18 fists
high). The rigidity of these figures contrasts quite a bit with the expressive
Amarna period I wrote about above.

Conclusion

From relief and sculptures to paintings and papyrus texts,
the ancient Egyptians made huge contributions to the art world. It’s quite
lucky that so many of their dynasties were focused on an afterlife since many extravagant
burial sites have given us numerous pieces of art and preserved them for study
in the hopes of understanding their lives, culture, and history.

These are just the highlights of several thousand years
of artistic expression and history. Ancient Egypt is filled with some fantastic
artwork that has a lot to say about its cultural history. I implore you to read on
about each era in Egyptian art and to get to know the figures contained
within each era, whether they’re historical or mythological figures.

Want to read more about Egyptian art? Check out
these books and links below!